But the Trojans have a strong jaw and, more than anyone in District 11, they hit the hardest.

Undefeated Parkland downed Southern Lehigh 25-19, 25-21, 16-25, 25-17 in the District 11 Class AAA final tonight at Whitehall High School. The Trojans advance to the PIAA tournament to defend their state title.

"It's a relief more than anything," two-time Lehigh Valley Conference Most Valuable Player Kelly Robertson said. "I think we did a really good job of ignoring the press and all of the other things that were making assumptions right away. I think we were able to come together and finish and get done what we needed to get done."

After taking the third set and seizing a bit of momentum, Southern Lehigh (15-2) got a block from Jenna Forrester to come within three points of Parkland in the fourth frame at 19-16. However, errors started to pile up for the Spartans as Parkland (21-0) scored five straight and eventually clinched the victory on a kill by Mary Zacher.

"It's sad to see us lose," Southern Lehigh coach Don West Jr. said. "Our seniors have had three straight (Class AA) district titles. They're not used to losing a district title, so it's tough on them."

The Spartans led throughout the entire third set and were up by as many as eight. Kills by Melann Amory, Kaysie Bauder and Sarah Wukitch closed out the 25-16 win for the Spartans.

"There's really nothing we could have done differently," Parkland coach Mike Krause said. "We just had to play, but we had a little doubt in that third game -- started questioning ourselves -- we had to address that and the kids responded to it."

"They played so well," said Parkland setter Taylor Krause, who had 40 assists. "They got everything up. Their defense was fantastic, their blocking was fantastic. They really wanted it and that challenged us a lot."

The Trojans led for the entirety of the first and second sets. Zacher put the finishing touches on the first frame with a kill and Robertson ended the second by striking a ball from the middle of the net to the left sideline.

"I still think we're a Top 5 team in the state, it just so happens that only one team comes out of our district," the coach said. "You want to play the best teams, it brought the best out of us. We played great volleyball and that's what we want."

Krause credited his defenders, like Callie Krajcir and Abby Hawk, for helping Parkland withstand the Spartans' attack on its way to a third straight district title.

"At the net, they had some open shots, but our kids were making some pretty good plays defensively," he said.

Robertson finished with 20 kills and Alicia Weigel had 12 for Parkland.

Parkland's run of unbeaten dominance continues over District 11, where the Trojans haven't lost or even been in a five-set match in the past two seasons. Krause praised this year's seniors for helping the underclassmen get to this point.

"The younger kids accepted roles and worked hard to get better and the older kids allowed that to happen," he said.

Now, the Trojans are in a position to claim a familiar role: state champion.